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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Once each month with the Moon, and late each year for the other planets in all charts (horary or otherwise), there are two jarring ingresses to be aware of:

1) The Libra to Scorpio Ingress. Moving from the Lesser Benefic of Venus to the harsh, uncompromising intensity of the KBO Pluto = OUCH! Especially since the door from Libra to Scorpio is right at the Via Combust midpoint. (The Via Combust Way is from 15 degrees Libra to 15 degrees Scorpio.)

2) The Sagittarius to Capricorn Ingress. This ingress is about moving from the Great Benefic of Jupiter to the Great Malefic of Saturn. Talk about a sobering cup of coffee as good-time Sadge smacks right into the brick wall of reality of Capricorn.

The drop-off/whipsaw shift in dynamics is the same regardless of the planet making the ingress. For example, Mercury moving out of its Sagittarius detriment of unrealistic expectations and overly-optimistic thinking meets cold, hard reality in Capricorn, which requires a return to the drawing board to start over with diminished expectations or a complete change in plan. This is further compounded because 0 degrees Capricorn is a critical degree.

A querent I know had a few employment interview event charts with Venus in the later degrees of Libra as the significator of the potential employer (chart forthcoming). The employer wooed and wined and dined the querent, telling him how wonderful the company and location were, and how great the work environment was. The querent accepted the position, and by the time he began his first day of work, Venus had slipped into Scorpio. The employer promptly revealed what a financial mess the company was in, and told him flat-out, “I hired you to fix it.” Talk about the crumbling mess behind the pretty façade!

So give your querents a strong heads-up that dangerous curves are ahead (within the context of the chart) when these ingresses appear. Aspects and dispositors will determine whether the changes are for the best or not.

So to be clear: Your politicians won't save you, your priests won't save you, your employer won't save you and your television won't save you. They are the problem. You are the solution.

---------------------------7/18/12 UPDATE: Note that in the latter part of August (15th through 31st) 2012, the Nodes conjoin the Saturn-Pluto midpoint at 1 degree Sadge before preceding Saturn by a month into Scorpio. This is an enormous turning point and harbinger of what will come, both personally and in the world. Saturn-Pluto is about as dead-serious, no-joking-around, actions-with-crushing-consequences as planetary symbolism can get.

However, keep in mind that the Saturn-Pluto mutual reception beginning at the end of the first week of October will be an applying sextile. Mutual receptions always provide a way out of a particular jam; in this case, likely an economic one. But, with the North Node in Scorpio with Saturn, it will be a case of 2 1/2 years of personal survival at all costs—but at a price. More to come later in a future post...7/27/12 UPDATE: The Via Combust Saturn-Pluto mutual reception and sextile beginning in October 2012 will intensify the attention on the U.S. election. (Most people don't pay attention to the hype until the last minute, anyway.) The fallout from the Citizens United decision will be front and center, further cementing and entrenching money and power with politics at an unprecedented level. When Mars ingresses into Scorpio (8/24/12) and Capricorn (11/18/12), the so-called 99% will have brief chances to steal the spotlight in protest, as Uranus in Aries will be strengthened, generating action, discontent and pockets of rebellion. Don't kid yourself, though — things will get worse before they get better as the Saturn-Pluto mutual reception/sextile gives the plutocrats the distinct advantage for the better part of 2 1/2 years.

Remember though—the tide ALWAYS swings the other way eventually, and as Uranus approaches Eris (and as Pluto applies to square Eris) much later on (circa 2016) the tide will swing (violently) in favor of revolt for change.In other words, things aren't bad enough yet to wake the masses up to take action and demand/force change. This takes time, especially because such slow-moving planets (and dwarf planets) are involved. For awhile the plutocrats are going to have an airtight lock on power, and at times it will seem as if the Occupy movement never happened. Things will look bleak and hopeless and downright oppressive. This will cause the violent backlash for change, as Uranus conjoins Eris. And if you doubt the power of extreme reaction and upheaval of that combo, consider that Eris on her own got Pluto demoted. (Astrologically, dwarf planets are far more powerful than the inner solar system planets, because they symbolically represent very condensed power beyond personal control.)See also: Neptune in Pisces Points to the Solution of the Uranus-Pluto Square: http://www.modernhoraryastrology.com/2012/07/neptune-in-pisces-points-to-solution-of.html

In my upcoming series later this year on these transits to the U.S. Sibly chart, I will post more time and specific predictions.8/12/12 UPDATE: Keep in mind that there is a reason for the famous Janis Joplin lyric from "Me and Bobby McGee," where she sings, "Freedom is another word for nothing left to lose." Changes (squares) of colossal magnitude, like the ones ahead, do not happen without risk (Uranus) or cost (Pluto). As such, as long as the majority of people have a fear of being fired from their job (Saturn) for speaking up, or a fear of being arrested (Pluto), the status quo will continue unimpeded. Safety, security, and stability (Saturn/Capricorn) are the enemies of change (Uranus/Aries) in an unenlightened society.Beginning August 24th, 2012, when Mars ingresses into Scorpio (see * below), this point will be emphatically driven home. Mars is the traditional ruler of Scorpio, and exalted in Capricorn, meaning for a few weeks it will be the agent provocateur of the Saturn-Pluto mutual reception sextile. On top of that, Mars rules Aries, the sign Uranus is currently transiting, so it is going to activate the Uranus-Pluto square simultaneously. So basically, the malefic strain of the outer solar system will be channeled lightning rod-like through Mars, since Mars will be in relationship with everything malefic from Saturn to Pluto, and particularly Eris. (It's no coincidence that the Curiosity rover on Mars is the center of attention in astronomy right now—just wait until the New Horizons mission gets to Pluto in a few years!) In natal as well as horary charts, Mars is where the hot seat of permanent, painful change (and some major endings) is going to be activated. Perhaps a kinder term for it is "enforced, long-term change at gunpoint." Look to Mars in your natal, solar and progressed charts to see where the action is going to be in your own life. And in your horary questions, watch its effect on outcomes that will be beyond querents' control.At the mundane level, the above mentioned Mars catalyst will intensify the dissatisfaction of the populace with all politicians as the election cycle kicks into high gear. SuperPACs are clearly in control, and voters are becoming less and less relevant to the plutocracy. Pluto goes direct on a partile square with Uranus on 9/18/12 as Saturn prepares to ingress into Mars' traditional sign of Scorpio on 10/6, dispositing to both Mars and Pluto for a couple of days at the end of the first week in October. The presidential candidates are not going to find rainbows and roses on the campaign trail this season; a hostile, poorer and frustrated electorate are (thankfully) going to take out their frustrations on them instead.(Read Part II on the Saturn-Pluto mutual reception here.) See also: Election 2012: World's easiest astrology prediction ever!*Zero degrees of any sign is always a critical degree, especially since (as mentioned in a previous post) one of the steepest cliffs in astrology is the change from Libra to Scorpio. But as the midpoint of the Via Combust zone, zero degrees Scorpio for Mars in particular means "no more Mr. Nice Guy" as its struggles through its detriment in Libra end, and whipsaw around into rulership In Scorpio, where it's suddenly payback time.)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

A
Uranus-Pluto square is like overstretching a rubber band to the point
that it snaps back violently—and draws blood when it does. It's about
taking things way too far (Pluto) until there's a violent reaction
(Uranus).

Albert
Einstein once said, "The significant problems we face can not be
solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created
them." This is a primary theme as the U.S. begins its Pluto
return, which culminates with a square to a Uranus-Eris conjunction
at Chiron circa 2016. As such, below is the U.S. natal chart (known
as the Sibley chart) utilizing the full solar system, which points to
America's core issues—and hints at their resolution. (More of those
specifics will be covered in a future post entitled, "Look Out
America! Eris is Coming!" rather than here and now.)

First
and most obvious is the Cancer stellium of Sun-Mercury-Jupiter and
Venus (modern astrology ignores the Part of Fortune because it's a
derivative calculation and doesn't actually exist). Unquestionably,
Cancer takes care of its own. Cancer is personal and not humanitarian
or universal like Aquarius—Cancer is generosity with a catch
(allegiance and fealty). It is an utterly provincial and
self-interested provider, and not concerned about nurturing the good
of the whole. This is underscored by the ASC and first house.

With
Sadge rising and Eris in Capricorn in the first house, under the
guise and intent of good-old Sadge abundance, benevolence, altruism
and generosity, America WANTS to meddle in others affairs (Eris) and
take control (Capricorn) to its own advantage in the situation,
whether it's Central and South American economic policy or
geopolitics in the Middle East. With America, it's not about
generating cooperative, win-win situations. It's about power and
control (Capricorn) over everyone else. And there's VERY deep-seated
needs and reasons (primarily economic) for that lust for power and
control with Haumea and Makemake lurking in the Scorpio-ruled 12th
house, with Pluto in the 2nd house. These reasons will be revisited
when Saturn ingresses into Scorpio and mutually recepts Pluto
beginning in late 2012.

"So,
to put the exclamation mark on this section of the commentary, what

happened
is that wisdom fled the corridors of power in America, which are now

filled
with reprehensible scoundrels who are so habituated to lying,
cheating, and

stealing
that they know no other way to be. As to where wisdom went, I would

suggest
that it spread out and now resides invisibly among the mass of
ordinary

Americans,
where millions of relatively wise people coexist right alongside tens
of

millions
of others who don’t have a clue but are about to be rudely
awakened.

This
is, I think, very much like the ancient parable of the Sufi Master
who lives in

the
village, quietly plying his mundane trade as a blacksmith. He reveals
his

Mastery
(i.e., his wisdom) only to those who can recognize it. To everyone
else,

he
remains just the village blacksmith. He doesn’t become a rich
businessman

who
then runs for Mayor, for that path is the very opposite of what his
wisdom

teaches
and how he needed to live to earn the wisdom in the first place."

Herbst
is essentially accurate: A man of wisdom is not going to seek power,
politics, and business. Why? Socrates gave a pretty good hint more
than two millenia ago when he said, "A man who really fights for
justice must lead a private, not public, life if he is to survive for
even a short time." (Apology, p. 36) But the Eastern mystic Osho
is much more specific:

"Man
is continuously trying in every possible way to be somebody higher,
special, superior – but this
is all politics...And the people who get interested in politics are
the most mediocre. Politics needs no other qualifications except one
– that is, a deep feeling of inferiority. The intelligent people
have something more important to do. Intelligence cannot waste itself
in struggling with third class, ugly politics, dirty politics. Only
the third class people become presidents, prime ministers. An
intelligent person is not going to be distracted by such a desert
which leads nowhere, not even to an oasis."

"What is politics basically? The desire to dominate others -- and that is the most stupid thing in life. The intelligent person tries to be a master of himself, and the stupid person tries to be master of others. And how can you be a master of others if you are not a master of yourself? If you are not a master of yourself, then trying to be a master of others is just a substitute to befool yourself, to deceive yourself, and that is what the stupidity consists of."

So
the abject failure of political leadership is a given, but what about
the responsibility of the citizens? As Herbst notes:

"...[Russian
writer Dmitri] Orlov holds that Americans are the least-prepared of
any nation for the changes looming in the years ahead. We are, he
says, alienated from each other and from community itself,
politically uninformed and neutered, chronically habituated to our
conveniences, hypnotized by the bread-and-circuses media that’s
controlled by our corporate masters, and deeply dependent on the
state for support of basic needs—more so than the populations of
any other major society on earth."

You
can't expect excellence from a society conditioned in obedience and
survival and consumption. The out-of-control rat race is designed to
keep people as far from self-awareness and self-sufficiency as
possible.

So
the core Pluto problems essentially look like this:

1)
We can't expect people in power/politics to get us out of the mess,
because their very qualities are what got us into this mess and keeps
us there. (Astrologically, the vested interests of Pluto in
Capricorn's plutocracy.)

2)
Americans are too stupid, lazy and ignorant to do much about the mess
they are in because that stupidity, laziness and ignorance are what
got them into the mess in the first place. So they blame the politicians.

Notice
a vicious-circle pattern here? Not only that, but the two problems
are deeply connected. Resolve one and you resolve the other. Like I
alluded in the opening paragraph, you can't solve problems with the
same ideas and systems that created those problems. You have to do
something new and different to get a different result.

Enter
Uranus in Aries. (Literally.)

When
an outer planet ingresses into a new sign and lingers in the early
degrees, it tends toward its "shadow" or dark side until it
gets established. Uranus at the early degrees of Aries has to move past the current right-wing, libertarian, shadow mentality of every-man-for-himself, and shift into
the higher vibe of individuals taking action for the greater good.
The shift occurs via the seven partile squares to Pluto, directly
impacting the Cancer stellium via T-square, which will force that
Uranian mental shift to occur via the resulting damage and
destruction. Then, as Uranus separates and heads for the later
degrees of Aries, Round Two occurs when transiting Uranus conjoins
transiting Eris at the U.S. natal Chiron to square the U.S. natal
Pluto in the second decanant of Aries at 23 degrees.

In
other words, people will still be reeling from the first wave of
tumult and trouble, when the upheaval and damage shifts to a
completely different front as the momentum swings toward the
citizenry and their response to the first wave. So if Round
One begins as an international incident (ruler of the 9th forming a
T-square with Uranus-Pluto), Round Two pulls the focus back to the
home front later on with the Uranus-Eris-Chiron emphasis in the
fourth house. (Again, more on this to come in future posts.)

So
one of the first (and hopelessly obvious) solutions is to stop
looking for a political savior (Pluto in Cap) to lead the country to
the promised land while its populace remains sleepwalking. The second
is for that sleepwalking populace to finally get over those Pluto in
Sadge halcyon days of believing and hoping their way through life by
denying reality, the fallout of which is prevalent now in the early
decanant of Pluto in Capricorn.

So
what to do when the intelligent, aware few are up against the
clueless, sleeping mob, while the Plutocrats exploit them both? MIT
professor and activist Noam Chomsky, when asked in "Imperial Ambitions" what an individual can do about the enormous problems
we face, offers a hint:

"There's
a lot we can do. We're not going to be thrown into prison and face
torture. We're not going to be assassinated. We have enormous
privilege and tremendous freedom. That means endless opportunities.
After every talk I give in the United States, people come up and say,
"I want to change things. What can I do?" I never hear
these questions from peasants in southern Colombia, Kurds in
southeastern Turkey under miserable repression, or anybody who is
suffering. They don't ask what they can do; they tell you what
they're doing."

"The
real question people have, I think, is 'What can I do to bring about
an end to these problems that will be quick and easy? I went to a
demonstration and nothing changed. Fifteen million people marched in
the streets on 2/15/2003, and still Bush went to war; it's hopeless.'But that's not the way things work...Unless you develop an
ongoing, living, democratic culture that can compel the candidates,
they're not going to do the things you voted for. Pushing a button
and then going home is not going to change anything."

And
that's where individual rebels taking a stand to create that
democratic culture, whether at home or in the workplace, move front
and center. First, however, understand the difference between a rebel
(Uranus) and a revolutionary (Pluto). Rebellion is constructive,
creative, individual and specific. It fights for something, rather
than just against something. It creates to replace, rather than
destroys for the sake of destruction. It is not a cultural or
ideological mass movement like a revolution (i.e., communism). With
Uranus in Aries, pockets of rebellion are the tool to demolish the
Pluto in Capricorn entrenched, structural corruption and rot.
Rebellion changes everything from the bottom up—from individuals,
to society, and eventually to leadership. Revolution is messy,
tyrannical and changes nothing but the names on the letterhead.

When
most people see an injustice, they won't stick their neck out by
speaking up or taking action—they either go into denial, or they
wait for someone else to assume the risk, and if things look like
they are going the right way, say "me too." This became
very apparent during the #OWS movement's beginning, where the sparks
of a few rebels, who were essentially ignored and even mocked early
on, ended up igniting national interest, and subsequently generated
individual groups in many cities within that nationwide zeitgeist.
(Transiting 10th house Haumea in Libra conjunct Sibley Saturn and
trining Sibley Mars.)

So
how does all of this play out in reality? What does it look like on
the ground? It's as Chomsky alludes. The 60's era mass protests don't
work, and smashing windows at Chase bank is not going to make its
CEO, Jamie Dimon, lose sleep. Individual groups take up issues via
rebellion in unconnected, uncoordinated uprisings (often
simultaneously) across the country, catching the Plutocrats
completely by surprise and unable to respond effectively with their
militarized police forces to a multi-headed, simultaneous,
unscheduled, unknown menace. Pluto in Capricorn's Big Brother can't
be everywhere at once, while Uranus in Aries can.

But
most importantly, the cold, hard reality is that people have to grow
and evolve their own consciousness before they can even begin to
address changing society. And throughout American history, crises
have always been the catalyst for change, not collective
enlightenment. (Hinted at by the intercepted Aquarian Moon in the 3rd
house in late degrees.)

But
people aren't there yet. Awakening takes time, and it's often in fits
and starts.

Uranus
in Aries, the symbol of a quantum leap forward if there ever was one,
demands tremendous courage from the individuals demanding change in
the face of the hostile, entrenched defenders of the status quo. With
Uranus and Pluto, violence will be involved—it's a given in
situations involving such drastic change as replacing a completely
corrupt and rotten economic and political system with something new,
fair and equitable.

As Pogo once said, we've met the enemy and it is us(Pluto
in the 2nd as ruler of the 12th in the Sibley chart), but we've also
met the solution—and
with Uranus in Aries with Chiron in the Sibley 4th house, again, it
is us. The problems are far from unsolvable, and the solutions are
already there—what's
missing is the public force and will to implement them. Americans
have got a
job to do, and thanks to Neptune in rulership in Pisces in the Sibley
3rd moving up to trine the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, the inspiration
and specific ideas of how will show up, front-and-center, right as
it's needed. Count on it.

(For
further astrological insight on Pluto in Capricorn for America, see
also: "The Capricorn Conspiracy" by Michael Lutin.
http://bit.ly/xLmUnA).